Amid many un answered questions from the public, the UPDF have said Ugandans should not worry about the fate of detained former Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura, and leave the army to “appropriately” handle his case.
“Leave the matter of Gen Kayihura to the UPDF leadership. The leadership is handling it. It is a matter in our hands and is being handled appropriately,” Brig Richard Karemire, the Army and Defense spokesperson said.
He was responding to a question from journalists on why the general and his co-accused were, in violation of the constitutional provision, being held beyond the 48-hour threshold without being produced in court.
Brig. Karemire
Thirteen days after the arrest and confinement of former Inspector General of Police Gen. Kale Kayihura on unspecified offenses, the government is still silent on the next move it will take against the four-star-general.
Art 23 (4) of Uganda’s Constitution provides that: “A person arrested, restricted or detained…shall, if not earlier released, be brought to court as soon as possible but in any case not later than forty-eight hours from the time of his or her arrest.” The army arrested Gen Kayihura on June 13, alongside almost half-a-dozen former senior police officers seen to be close to him, and have since held them at Makindye Military Barracks and other detention facilities.
Mr Elison Karuhanga, a lawyer at Kampala Associated Advocates that is representing Gen Kayihura, yesterday said the former IGP had not instructed them to file a habeas corpus application to compel the state to produce him in court.
However, the Internal Affairs minister, Gen Jeje Odongo, without giving specifics, had told a news conference last week that Gen Kayihura had a case to answer.